This invention relates to a composition useful in a process for the preparation of membranes comprising bisphenol polycarbonates wherein at least 25 percent by weight of the bisphenol moieties are tetrahalogenated wherein the halogen is Cl or Br, or a mixture, thereof. More particularly, this composition is the mixture used as feed to a process for the preparation of such membranes.
In various industries, it is necessary or highly desirable to separate one component from another in a gaseous stream. Processes used to perform such separations include pressure swing absorption, cryogenics, and membrane separations. In a membrane separation, a gaseous stream containing the components to be separated is contacted with a membrane, wherein the membrane separates two regions in a manner such that only those materials which permeate through the membrane can communicate from one region to the other. Such membranes are semi-permeable, in that one component of the gaseous mixture selectively permeates through the membrane at a rate much higher than one or more of the components in the gaseous stream. The gaseous mixture is contacted with the membrane in a manner such that the selectively permeable species is preferentially transported through the membrane to the other region. It is to be noted that the component from which the selectively permeable species is to be separated may in fact permeate through the membrane at a much slower rate than the selectively permeable species. It is this difference in rates of permeation which is used to separate the gaseous species or reduce the concentration of the less selectively permeated species in the region to which the permeating gases permeate.
In such separations, the relative rate of permeation, that is, the difference in rate of permeation between the selectively permeating gas and the non-selectively permeating gas, is a major factor in the separation achieved. The higher the ratio of permeation of the selectively permeable gas over the non-selectively permeable gas, the better the membrane will perform. Therefore, it is desirable to have as high a ratio as possible.
Presently, membranes derived from acetate esters, for example cellulose acetate, cellulose diacetate, and cellulose triacetate, polyamides, polyimides, and olefins, for example polyethylene, polypropylene, poly-4-methylpentene-1, are used for gas separations. Among such separations are the separation of oxygen from nitrogen, and carbon dioxide from methane.
Some of the materials used in membranes suffer from certain disadvantages. One such problem is the inability to perform under extreme conditions, such as high temperatures and pressures. As a result, certain separations are limited by the membrane as to the temperatures and pressures which may be used.
Another important property of membranes is the permeability of the gases through the membrane. If the permeability is too low, the membrane may not provide enough flow through the membrane to be economical for separations. Some potential candidates for membrane separations provide good separation factors but low permeabilities for dense membranes. One technique used to improve the flow is to form asymmetric membranes from such polymers. Asymmetric membranes comprise a membrane with a thin, dense region wherein the separation is effected, and a larger region which is porous through which gases pass with little resistance which provides support for the thin, dense layer. The formation of an asymmetric membrane with good separation factors and permeabilities is a difficult chemistry and engineering problem.
Asymmetric membranes are formed by forming a mixture of the material from which the membrane is to be formed, a solvent for such material, and optionally a non-solvent for such material. The mixture is exposed to conditions wherein the membrane forming material and the solvent and non-solvent phase separate leaving the formed membrane with an asymmetric structure. The structure of the formed membrane is affected by the nature of the solvent, any non-solvent used, the membrane forming material content of the mixture, and where a non-solvent is used the ratio of the solvent to the non-solvent. In addition, the process conditions have a significant effect on the membrane structure.
Recently it has been discovered that bisphenol-based polycarbonates wherein at least 25 percent by weight of the bisphenol moieties are tetrahalogenated, wherein the halogen is Cl or Br, exhibit excellent separation factors for the separation of oxygen from nitrogen, but exhibit low flux in the dense form. Furthermore, such polycarbonates exhibit excellent physical properties.
What are needed are membranes of bisphenol-based polycarbonates wherein at least 25 percent by weight of the bisphenol moieties are tetrahalogenated, wherein the halogen is Cl or Br, wherein the flux is increased significantly over those of a dense membrane of such material. What is further needed is a process which allows the preparation of such membranes from such polycarbonates. What is further needed is a composition which is useful in the preparation of such membranes from such polycarbonates.